DISCLAIMER: I do not own the intellectual rights to either Warhammer 40,000 or Neon Genesis Evangelion. Please don't sue me? :P
Anyway lets get going!
It is the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the
Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden throne of Earth.
He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and
master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies.
He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the
Dark age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium,
for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed each day, so
He may never truly die.
Yet even in His deathless state, the Emperor continues
His eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested
miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the
Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will.
Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest
amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines,
bioengineered supersoldiers. Their comrades-in-arms are legion: The
Astra Militarum and countless Planetary Defence Forces, the ever-vigilant
Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few.
But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present
threat from aliens, heretics, mutants - and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold trillions. It is to live
in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of such
times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten,
never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the
grim darkness of the far future there is only war. There is no peace amidst the stars,
only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods...
+++
Like an angel, with cruel and merciless intent...
The void above the bloody skies of Dantra V crackled and folded with ethereal lightning, signifying the beginning of a Warp translation. The fabric of reality flexed, then tore open, a jagged rift in spacetime. Appearing out of the hole in space came ships bearing the iconography of the Imperial Navy and began thrusting toward the planet their occupants called home.
The 67th Dantran Rifles had returned after a decade of war and slaughter.
And they were recruiting.
Far below the writhing of tortured space, the sun rose on the hive of Gravaan Primus. At the tip of the hive, a spire rose to a glinting peak, glass and steel reflecting the red sky and light clouds. This spire was the residence of the Ikari noble family, and until now, the Most Honourable Highborn Shinji Ikari.
Shinji Ikari rolled over in his overly large bed and grabbed another Palovine Pastry, his eyes glued to the screen of a data-pad. On the pad, a cheesy war novel scrolled, recounting the epic battles of the Cadian 81st armoured. Much of the text was obviously Imperial propaganda, but Shinji didn't care. He much preferred reading in his room to roistering and fighting other nobles, as the rest of his siblings did. Maybe that-
The klaxon above the bed sounded, summoning him to an audience with his father. Shinji sighed as he got out of bed and got dressed. He had always found that being well dressed helped for an audience. He tended to be better treated that way.
It was to his surprise that two Palatine Enforcers, the palace guard, came personally to escort him to the throne room. The enforcers were reserved for the most important of occasions, a sign that boded poorly for the future.
Governor Gendo Ikari looked over his white-gloved hands down from his regal desk.
"You are now enlisted in the Astra Militarum, as a lieutenant. You will have one standard hour to pack before you will be forcibly removed from the spire and taken to the Militarum encampment. Go forth, Shinji, and bring honour to your house and to me."
Shinji looked up at his father, his eyes beginning to blur with tears.
"Why must you do this to me father? Why do you hurt me in this way? Is there nothing I can do to appease you? Nothing at all?"
"No. You are an Imperial Guardsman now."
Gendo's monotone cut through the Shinji's agony and shattered his world into thousands of pieces. He fell to the ground, weeping. Gendo, still not looking at Shinji, spoke the last words Shinji would hear from him for a long time.
"Get this pathetic being out of my sight."
The Palatine Enforcers dragged him from the room.
Gendo listened to the room, and heard faint, bird-like laughter, and smiled under his gloves
"Just as planned."
A/N: The Dantran year is about 1.5 Standard Imperial (S.I.) years long. This means that Shinji is technically 19 years old at the start of the fic. However, due to the extremely long expected life of a Highborn citizen, he hasn't learned that much about people, and is about as mature as he is in Eva. One S.I. year = One Terran year
Also if you know nothing about Warhammer 40,000, you won't understand most of this fic. You can still read it like an Asushin fanfic though. For people who don't know anything about Neon Genesis Evangelion, it's a little easier, but you'll miss most of the stuff.
Anyway, I've got the basic premise planned out for this fic. Some of the more intricate details I still need to plan out.
Thanks to Toasterman on Discord for help with this, and the rest of you on the Asushin Discord for the support. 3
Alright, the introduction's over, time to do the next chapter!
Please review I guess.
